Here’s What Happened in N.F.L. Week 10

Wins on the road, last-second field goals, overtime battles and an outrageous blowout were all part of an entertaining N.F.L. Week 10 in which the good teams won for the most part, but they had to work fairly hard to do so. Here is what we learned on Sunday:

■ Case Keenum is not ready to go back to the bench. The Minnesota Vikings came into the game working their way through a quarterback controversy on their hands. Teddy Bridgewater was activated after more than a year away from the game, but he did not start. That may remain the case for quite a while, as Keenum responded to the pressure by throwing for 304 yards and four touchdowns in his team’s fifth consecutive win, 38-30, over the Washington Redskins. Keenum’s record as a starter improved to 5-2, and that does not include him having done the heavy lifting after he came on in relief of an injured Sam Bradford in a Week 5 victory.

■ Sometimes it’s better to keep the challenge flag in your pocket. The Bears turned a 23-yard reception, and a first-and-goal at Green Bay’s 2-yard line, into a costly turnover thanks to Coach John Fox’s challenge of the ruling that his receiver was down before scoring. The officials decided that the receiver was not down, and that he had actually fumbled the ball into the end zone, which handed possession to the Packers. The reversal loomed large in Chicago’s 7-point loss to an N.F.C. North rival.

■ The Rams might need a nickname. Los Angeles improved to 7-2 with a 33-7 win over Houston in which it dominated in every aspect of the game. Jared Goff, who has 666 passing yards and seven touchdowns over the last two weeks, is looking like a superstar, and Robert Woods scored two receiving touchdowns for a second consecutive week. They could always do a play on an old favorite, adjusted for their current home field, and be called the Greatest Show on Grass.

■ The Cowboys are going to miss Ezekiel Elliott. The Cowboys rely on Elliott not just for his huge production as a runner, but also as a fantastic decoy on play-action plays. In the first game of his six-game suspension, Dallas could not establish the running game, and that allowed the Falcons to simply pin their ears back and rush right at Dak Prescott all game on the way to a 27-7 victory. It was only the second time a Prescott-led team has scored in single digits.

■ It is good to be able to switch gears. The New Orleans Saints may have a pass-happy offense that thrives indoors, but on the road in Buffalo against a bad rushing defense, they decided to take what they were being given. And they took, and took, and took en route to a seventh consecutive victory. Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara led an offensive attack that produced 298 rushing yards and franchise-record six rushing touchdowns. It was 50 more rushing yards than the team had produced in any game of the Drew Brees era, and the third-highest total in franchise history.

■ There is no even-week curse in Jacksonville. The Jaguars came into the game 5-0 in odd-numbered weeks and 0-4 in even-numbered weeks, but they survived a strong effort from the Chargers, and a number of their own mistakes, to win in overtime, 20-17. The Jaguars have won three straight and are riding a remarkable defense as far as it will take them.

Patriots jump on Broncos, and never look back.

The Denver Broncos never stood a chance. At the end of New England’s first drive, the Patriots punted, Denver’s Isaiah McKenzie muffed the catch, and two plays later New England was on the board with a 7-0 lead. The score was never in doubt in the eventual 41-16 victory, with Tom Brady throwing for 266 yards and three touchdowns while Denver repeatedly failed to turn yards into points.

New England, who opened up a two-game lead over Buffalo in the A.F.C. East, is one of five 7-2 teams, all of which are one game behind the 8-1 Philadelphia Eagles for the best record in the N.F.L. Denver, on the other hand, dropped to 3-6, three games behind Kansas City in the A.F.C. West.

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Robert Woods celebrated after scoring against the Texans.CreditHarry How/Getty Images

Without Elliott, Cowboys come up short against Atlanta.

The Atlanta Falcons finally held onto a lead. It turns out all they needed was a career-best performance from Adrian Clayborn, a defensive end who was absolutely dominant with six sacks and seven quarterback hits. Clayborn’s disruption gave Dak Prescott absolutely no time to work and the 27-7 Falcons’ victory broke a three-game winning streak by the Cowboys. In the first game of Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension, Dallas had just 107 rushing yards, 42 of which came from Prescott.

Matt Ryan hooked up with Justin Hardy on a 3-yard pass for Atlanta’s first offensive touchdown in the third quarter this season. Early in the fourth, Ryan put the game away for the Falcons (5-4) by tossing one to Austin Hooper for a 1-yard score.

While the Cowboys (5-4) surely missed Elliott, who finally began serving a six-game suspension for allegations of domestic abuse after three legal reprieves, they were also stung by the absence of left tackle Tyron Smith. He sat out with back and groin injuries, leaving the third-year player Chaz Green to protect Dak Prescott’s blind side.

It didn’t go well for Dallas. Beating Green time after time, Clayborn forced two fumbles, recovered one of them and surpassed the team record of five sacks, held by Chuck Smith and the Hall of Famer Claude Humphrey. Even more impressive, Clayborn’s performance matched the second-most sacks in an N.F.L. game. Derrick Thomas, Osi Umenyiora and Fred Dean are the only other players credited with six sacks in a game, while Thomas holds the league record with seven sacks for Kansas City against the Seahawks on Nov. 11, 1990.

The Rams keep rolling behind Jared Goff.

The Los Angeles Rams took care of things defensively, while getting another huge game from Jared Goff. That combination proved to be far too much for the Houston Texans as the Rams went on to win easily, 33-7. Goff threw for 355 yards and three touchdowns, including this 94-yard bomb to Robert Woods.

After struggling to a 9-7 lead during a quiet first half for the N.F.L.’s highest-scoring team, the Rams ran away with a series of big throws by Goff, who passed for a career-high 355 yards. Woods finished with eight catches for 171 yards, and Sammy Watkins also scored on a 17-yard pass from Goff.

The Rams defense did their part, forcing four turnovers against the Texans, whose offense again fell flat without Deshaun Watson.

The 49ers are no longer winless thanks to the Giants.

The San Francisco 49ers finally broke a season-long losing streak, beating the Giants 31-21. San Francisco’s offense, which has been terrible all season, managed to pile up 474 total yards, with 186 coming on the ground. With the win, the Cleveland Browns are now the only winless team left in the N.F.L.

49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard connected on an 83-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Goodwin and a 47-yard scoring pass to Garrett Celek during the second quarter as the 49ers took advantage of another listless effort by the Giants to win for the first time under Coach Kyle Shanahan.

The 83-yard scoring play was the longest for the 49ers since Tim Rattay and receiver Brandon Lloyd hooked up on an 89-yard touchdown pass against Dallas in September 2005.

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Saints running back Alvin Kamara picked up yards against the Bills on Sunday.CreditJeffrey T. Barnes/Associated Press

Saints’ ground game is unstoppable.

The New Orleans Saints have Drew Brees, one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but didn’t need him on Sunday. The Saints knew that the Buffalo Bills were vulnerable against the run, and they took advantage of that to win huge on the road, 47-10. As a team they rushed for 298 yards and six touchdowns, with Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara each rushing for more than 100 yards and third-stringer Trey Edmunds chipping in with 48. The Saints outgained the Bills in total yardage 482 to 198.

The Saints’ defense was just as dominating in limiting Buffalo (5-4) to 198 yards and 10 first downs. And five of those first downs came on Buffalo’s meaningless final drive, which ended with the backup quarterback Nathan Peterman hitting Nick O’Leary on a 7-yard touchdown pass.

New Orleans set a franchise record by scoring six touchdowns rushing, the most allowed by Buffalo in team history.

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Vikings tight end David Morgan celebrated after scoring a touchdown against the Redskins.CreditAlex Brandon/Associated Press

Vikings aren’t ready to end the “Case Keenum era” yet.

The Minnesota Vikings have made it clear that Teddy Bridgewater will eventually get his job back as the team’s starting quarterback, but Case Keenum started on Sunday and he shredded the Washington Redskins in a 38-30 victory. Keenum threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns and the Vikings defense did just enough to hold back Kirk Cousins and the Redskins offense.

Keenum was also picked off on consecutive throws by D. J. Swearinger early in the fourth quarter.

“Case played outstanding,” Coach Mike Zimmer said. “I wish the two throws he had in the second half he would have not made. He’s an excitable guy, and he needs to understand when’s the good plays and bad plays sometimes.”

Adam Thielen had eight catches for a season-high 166 yards, and the Vikings celebrated his touchdown by kneeling in a line the end zone while he and Diggs leapfrogged over them.

“We were just playing a little leapfrog, just taking it back to the playground,” Thielen said.

Bears shoot themselves in the foot against Packers.

The Chicago Bears came close to beating their archrivals, but ended up losing to the Green Bay Packers, 23-16, thanks in large part to a terrible challenge by Coach John Fox. In the second quarter, the Bears were losing 10-3 when Mitchell Trubisky hit Benny Cunningham for a 23-yard catch-and-run. Cunningham nearly scored but was ruled down at the 2-yard line despite the ball striking the pylon as his foot was hitting the ground. Fox challenged the call, saying Cunningham got in, but after a review the call was changed to a fumble that resulted in a touchback and the ball being handed to Green Bay. The Packers ended up holding off the Bears in a hard-fought game, getting Brett Hundley his first career win.

Hundley, starting his third game for the injured Aaron Rodgers, threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams to make it 23-13 with 5:29 to play, and the Packers (5-4) hung on to beat the Bears (3-6) for the eighth time in nine games. Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky threw for a career-high 297 yards. He hit Josh Bellamy for a 46-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the Bears dropped their second in a row after having won two straight.

The Browns do what the Browns do.

To reach 0-9 involves a lack of talent, some bad luck, and some horrible decisions. The Cleveland Browns had all three as they lost to the Detroit Lions 38-24 despite having led 24-17 near the end of the third quarter. The loss included the Browns calling a quarterback keeper at the goal line with 15 seconds remaining in the first half despite the fact that they had no timeouts. The Lions defense tackled quarterback DeShone Kizer and then simply held him down until time ran out.

So, to review.

The Browns ran a QB sneak from outside the 2 with 15 seconds left and no timeouts.

The Lions (5-4) rallied from first- and second-half deficits to earn a second consecutive victory for the first time since they opened 2-0. The Browns, who fell to 0-9, led by 10-0 early in the game for their first double-digit lead of the season, and were up by 24-17 in the third after Kizer led two consecutive touchdown drives.

Matthew Stafford, who lofted a 29-yard tiebreaking touchdown to Eric Ebron early in the fourth quarter, finished with 249 yards passing and three touchdowns.

Steelers barely survive Colts’ charge.

The Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to Indianapolis as double-digit favorites against the Colts, but they were lucky to come away with a 20-17 victory after they entered the fourth quarter down 17-9. Pittsburgh got a touchdown pass and 2-point conversion from Ben Roethlisberger to tie it up and then a last-second 33-yard field goal by Chris Boswell to win the game.

The Steelers (7-2) have won four straight over all and five in a row in the series. But it sure wasn’t easy as the Colts (3-7) held Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell in check. Pittsburgh needed two second-half scoring passes from Roethlisberger to fight its way out of a 17-3 third-quarter deficit. And Roethlisberger reverted to his traditional form on the Steelers’ final possession.

“Big Ben is Big Ben and he finds guys, and we’ve got him in second-and-long and he finds a guy, and then he scrambles around and finds Antonio Brown,” Colts Coach Chuck Pagano said. “That’s what he does.”

Roethlisberger methodically marched the Steelers 70 yards in the final 3 minutes 10 seconds to give Pittsburgh its only lead.

Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl champion, was 19 of 31 for 236 yards with one interception. Bell had 26 carries for 80 yards, and Brown, the league’s leading receiver, caught three passes for 47 yards.

Fitzpatrick comes back to haunt Jets.

For Ryan Fitzpatrick, beating the Jets was not as much about getting the best of his old team as it was helping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers get back on track.

Filling in for the injured quarterback Jameis Winston, Fitzpatrick was steady — if not overly impressive — in leading the Buccaneers (3-6) to a 15-10 victory that ended a five-game losing streak.

“I didn’t play great by any stretch of the imagination, but we won the game, and I’m getting too old now to worry about that other stuff,” said Fitzpatrick, 34, who played the past two seasons with the Jets. “My job filling in right now is to do the best I can and try and grind out wins. That’s what we did today.”

Tampa Bay sacked Jets quarterback Josh McCown — who was playing against one of his former teams himself — six times, nearly doubling its sack total for the season. The Jets (4-6) were held to fewer than 200 yards of offense until late in the fourth quarter, when McCown took to the air almost exclusively after Fitzpatrick’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Charles Sims put the Buccaneers ahead, 15-3.